Contents of the fikst volume
Yüklə 4,81 Mb.
|
|
and the former, will be treated more distinctly in their several places ; but it may assist the recollection to bring them under the eye at once. In the general confirmation of archbishop Arundel, A.D. 1400, the Chapels of the old foundation are recognized, and no more ; so that it is certain that no new religious erections v had taken place during a period of 116 years. After this, the next foundation was, PADIHAM, for which the licence of mortmain bears date 30th Hen. VI. Then, WHITEWELL, HOLME, MARSDEN, all, erected, as appears from their architecture and some other evidence, between the reign of Henry VI. and Henry VII. Then, NEWCHURCH IN ROSSENDALE, 3rd Hen. VIII. which, by an instance of good fortune peculiar to itself, was permitted, I suppose in consideration of its poverty, to retain the original manse and glebe. Then,
planting of the forests. Afterwards, at an uncertain period, ACCRINGTON, taken out of Alvetham ; concerning the foundation of which the epis- copal registry at Chester affords no information ; but it is mentioned in Harrison's Description of Britain, p. 66, as extant in 1577. And, lastly,
who, in 1310, resigned, at the request of Thomas Earl of Lancaster l ; and Richard de Swinfleet,) enjoyed this benefice under the endowment of Walter Langton. The last was succeeded by one William le Wolf de Kirklauton, a native probably of Church Lawton, in 1 A copy of the Earl's letter to this effect remains in the Coucher Book. 208 HISTOEY OF WHALLEY. [BOOK II. CHAP. III. Cheshire, who not only submitted to what he was unable to prevent, namely, the last wretched appropriation, but was reduced, by a most arbitrary practice, exercised in other instances upon the poor vicars, to bind himself by oath never to procure an augmentation. 1 He was followed by John de Topcliffe, brother of the abbot, 2 whose name perpetually appears with that of Gristhwaite, vicar of Blackburn, in the charters of this period, as trustees, to take lands for the benefit of the house ; and after his death, which happened about 30th Edw. III. the abbot and convent presented no more secular priests, but retained the benefice in their own hands till the dissolution. No usurpation of the monks gave greater offence, or was more injurious to the interests of religion than this, when, not content with the original appropriations, they had begun in some instances to devour the endowed vicarages, by appointing only chaplains to serve them ; and in others, as in that before us, to nominate one of their own body, who, instead of keeping hospitality upon his benefice, was merely a boarder in the convent. The real advantage which they derived from these scandalous presentations was, that a regular, being under the obligation of the vow of poverty, could not touch the fruits of his own benefice, which of course accrued to the common stock of the house. This practice, after many remonstrances and complaints of the commons in parliament, produced a well-meant statute, 4 Hen. IV. [c. 12] pro- viding, inter center a, " that from henceforth in every church appropried a secular person be ordained vicar perpetual, and that no religious be any wise made vicar in any church so appropried, or to be appropried by any means in time to come." But this was unfortu- nately a law without a sanction ; no penalty having been annexed to the breach of it : the abuse, therefore, continued till the 10th of Henry VI. " when a bill was brought into parliament requiring that in every church appropriated, or to be appropriated, a secular person be ordained perpetual vicar, to do divine service and keep hospitality ; and that if any religious, or men of holy church, which have or hold any churches in proper use, from henceforward suffer such vicarages to be inofficiate, without a vicar resident there for six months, that the same churches be disappropried and disamortized for ever, saving only to the said religious their patronage in the same." This was vigorous and decisive ; but the poor King was instructed to reply, " Le Roy s'avisera," and this inveterate evil continued in unabated malignity till the dissolution, to which it had its full share in contributing.'
prophecy of Piers Plowman, who, long before these statutes, boldly taxed them with want of charity and hospitality upon their appropriated benefices, and warned them of the consequences in a strain exceeding, as we should suppose, the powers of natural sagacity and foresight.
'-V
1 [See this curious document hereafter, p. 225. Dr. Whitaker's statements in this place must be compared with the corrected institutions of the Vicars, hereafter, p. 211. John de Topcliffe preceded William le Wolf, but he also followed him, being admitted Vicar a second time ; and there were two other Vicars, of whom Whitaker was unaware, before Selby.] * There was a third brother resident in Billington, which I suppose to have been the native place of the family. 3 See Bishop Kennel's Case of Impropriations passim. BOOK II. CHAP. III.] PARISH CHURCH AND VICARAGE. 209 iLittle fjat fortes to toto to gebe lontes from STo religious tijat ijabe no rutfje if it ratne on fj autres ; Jn mange places tijer tte persons (appropriators) be f)*wself at ease f j>e pore ijabe tfjeg no pttge ant tijat is tJjer cljarite. ant tfjer stall come a feing ant confesse gou religious, ant amende monials, monies anti djanons, ant tijen stall tlje abfoot of afciington ant al fjis issue for eber a fcnocfce of a fegnge ant incurable tlje toounte. After the dissolution of the monastery, by deed of exchange between King Edward VI. and Archbishop Cranmer, dated June 12th, anno regni primo, the appropriate rectories of Whalley, Blackburn, and Rochdale, with the advowson of their several vicarages, are granted to the see of Canterbury, under the following very inaccurate description : " omnes illas rectorias nostras et ecclesias de Whalley, Blackburn, et Rachdale, nupcr monasterio sive abbatise de Whalley nuper dissolute dudum spectantibus, ac etiarn omnes illas capellas nostras de Padiham, Clyderhow, Coin, Brunley, Churche, Altham. Haslingden, Bowland, Penhull, Trawden, 1 et Rossendale, et capellam nostram de Clyderhowe, necnon omnes illas capellas nostras de Leeke (mis-written for Law), Samlesbury, Sacldleworth, Butterworth, &c. et advocationem et jus patron, vicariarum eccl. p'dict. de Whalley, Blackburn, et Each- dale, dictae nuper mon. dudum spect." In consequence of this acquisition, Archbishop Cranmer appears to have collated soon after, but certainly before the 7th of the same reign, Edward Pedley, 3 S. T. B. to the vicar- age of Whalley. He was the first Protestant vicar, and was interred Dec. 5, 1558, with this eulogy in the register, " egregius Concionator," a proof of care and fidelity on the part of this apostolical bishop, in providing a faithful preacher for so large a parish, not always imitated by his successors. 4 lie received 4 inserted in the old book marked A. C., that the vicar received out of the great tithes the sum of 30/. per annum.
am unable to say why it varied from the original endowment of 66 marks. 5 [Payment of his pension as Vicar occurs in the Ministers' Accounts 28 and 29 Hen. VIII. No. 29. (Augment. Off.) He was, therefore, Vicar before the dissolution, and probably originally appointed by the Abbot and convent.]
expression in a letter to a succeeding archbishop, " Whalley hath as ill a vicar as the rest." [See note in p. 213.] Archbishop Juxon with a petition for the Easter-roll, when a promise was obtained at the next renewal, which hap- pened a little while before Juxon's death. Sir Ralph Assheton valued the Easter-roll at 120/. but it was found to
fall considerably short of that sum. Afterwards, as the trust was not very clearly expressed, Mr. Gey made an attempt to appropriate the whole to himself: this occasioned an Exchequer suit, which ended in a decree to this effect: " That
a trust did exist, and that the vicar should assign over to such persons as the major part of the curates should appoint."
210
HISTORY OF WHALLEY.
[BOOK II. CHAP. III. But upon the accession of Archbishop Juxon, this benefice, and the parochial chapel- ries dependent upon it, received a noble and most judicious augmentation by a grant of
the whole Easter roll and surplice fees, which he reserved out of the rectory and tithery of Whalley upon the renewal of a lease, on condition that the several curates should receive
the same within their respective cures, and should pay to the vicar for the time being, in different proportions, the sum of 42J., which, with 38/. heretofore paid, would augment the
stated income of the vicarage to 801. great increase of population, the curates have greatly the advantage, as they now receive (in consideration of certain fixed annual payments, making up, in the whole, the above sum
of 4:21.), besides their own surplice fees, formerly paid to the farmers of the rectory, all the customary payments due at Easter ; that is to say, for communicants, for house debts,
for kine, for calves, for hay, for plow, for lambs, for sheep sold, for swarms of bees, and for foals, throughout the whole rectory of Whalley, the tithery of Bowland excepted. 1
fine, received by him from the lessees of Whalley, Blackburn, and Rachdale, in Lancashire, to purchase lands, and settle annual pensions, for the stipends of the curates of the chapels
of ease before unprovided for. 2 from the Crown, of the Rectory of Whalley, bearing date July 8th, 30th Hen. VIII. to Sir William Pickering, knt. for the rent of 237 13*. 4<1
12th, 32 Hen. VIII. This was the first footing which the Asshetons obtained at Whalley. Hen. VIII. gave it to his natural son, who soon after assigned it to Richard Assheton in Survey for the Rectory of Whalley, taken by Roger Newell, of Read, esq. and others, A.D. 1616, in which it is thus stated: " Also for lambs and calves of all numbers under seven, for every lamb an halfpenny, and for every calf an
halfpenny, at Easter. If there be odds of calves or lambs under or above seven, there must be paid one halfpenny for each below seven and ten, and so from ten to seventeen. And for swarms and foals, one often or seven, ut supra.
Also where any person sells any sheep after Candlemas, and before the same be clipped, then the seller is to pay for each an halfpenny at Easter. Also for every cow a penny at Easter. For himself or herself, and every other com-
municant resident in his house, a penny at Easter. Also an ancient duty called house-duty and offering-days. If there be man and wife fourpence-halfpenny, except in some places of the chapelries of Burnley and Colne, where they
pay threepence-halfpenny. And in both cases, where there, be more married persons in the house than the housekeeper and his wife, for every such, over the said fourpence -halfpenny, threepence-halfpenny. Also for every foal a penny,
every swarm a penny, under ten or seven ut supra ; but where ten or seven they pay ut supra. For every plow or draft a penny, and every half plow or draft an halfpenny. For every garden within the chace of Trawden a penny."
What follows, as it has become quite obsolete, is very curious : " Also the parishioners, except in the chace above mentioned, are accustomed to pay an ancient duty called ' Holy-loaf money.' Thus every year fifty-two houses in
every ancient chapelry in the said parish do pay a penny -halfpenny a piece; and next year fifty-two other houses do the like : and the next year after, fifty-two other houses ; and so from fifty-two to fifty-two, till all the chapelry be
gone over, then beginning again with the first, and no for ever." BOOK II. CHAP. III.] PARISH CHURCH AND VICARAGE. 211
consideration of the manor of Downham, &c. (vide Downham). Pickering's lease was to
expire in 1558, and Dauntzey's term was forty years from that time. granted the first lease from the see of Canterbury to Ralph Assheton, esq. the elder and Ralph Assheton the younger, for the lives of the last Ralph and of Ratcliff Assheton, sons
of Ralph the elder and of Richard son of Richard Assheton of Downham, brother of Ralph. from the time of Edward VI. by the Asshetous, and, after the marriage of the co-heiresses of the last Sir Ralph Assheton, by the families of Curzon and Lister, was, in the year
1799, alienated in perpetuity to the lessees under the sanction of an Act of Parliament by the present Archbishop of Canterbury ; and thus, after having hitherto preserved at least
a shadow of its original destination to ecclesiastical uses, the whole is finally desecrated and become a lay-fee.
bury, until it was alienated to the feoffees of the late William Hulme in the year 1846 ; since which time the stipends of the different incumbencies in their gift have been very
largely augmented.] Temp, in quibus occ. 1309
1330
1342
1349
June 7 1381
Vicarii de Whalley. Johannes, vie. de Whalley
Ric. [or Radulph.] de Chadsden 1 Ric. de Swinflet 2
Johannes Topcliffe 3 Wm. le Wolf de Kirklauton
Johannes de Topcliffe, 2 admissus Johannes de Walton
Robertus de Neuton Fr. Will. Selby, postea abbas
Fr. Rob. Normanvile, prior 4 Fr. Johannes de Tollerton 5
Patroni. Vacat. . ' Inst. Vic. Wh. ap. Lond. non. Maii 1309. Ibid. per res. Ibid. This nearly fixes the period of Selby's election to the abbacy. [The registers of Lichfield, prior to the foundation of the See of Chester, are bound in 14 folio volumes, and the records of the Archdeaconry of Chester are
found under a separate title in each, and are pretty entire from the time of Walter de Langton (whose register is the oldest now remaining) to the year 1513, when they cease. In these records are contained many institutions or admissions
of the Priors of Burscough and Holland, but none of the Abbots of Whalley, who were probably exempt from epis- copal jurisdiction. Of the chantries within the compass of this work [few] are noticed but that of St. Katharine of
Eccles and St. Leonard of Padiham. The rest were either not founded, or their officiating priests were stipendiaries only. The regular chantry priests received canonical institution. (Dr. Whitaker, in his Addenda et Corrigenda to
the First Edition.)] 212
HISTORY OF WHALLEY.
[BOOK II. CHAP III. Temp, in quibns occ. 1426
[March 11, 1822 Vicarii de Whalley. Fr. Johannes de Salley, prior l
Fr. Had. de Cliderhow, 2 postea abbas Fr. Will Dynkley, 3 S.T.B.
Fr. Johannes Seller* Fr. Eobert Paryshe 8
Mr. Edward Manchester, B.D. Edvvardus Pedley, S.T.B.
Georgius Dobson, dec. rur. de Blackburn ; sep. Maii 23, 1583
William Johnson, A.M. Thomas Baldwin, LL.B. died at
Thomas Dunham Whitaker, LL.D. Nov. 29, 1839, aged 62 Patroni. lidem
lidem
lidem
lidem Queen Elizabeth Arch. Cant. Richard Chadderton Arch. Cant.
Arch. Cant. Arch. Cant.
Archbishop Potter Arch. Cant.
Arch. Cant. Arch. Cant. Vacat,
Incert.
Per mortem. Per resig. Per resig.
Per mort. Per mort.
Per resig. Per mort.
Per mort. Per mort.] Of my predecessors, from the Reformation to the present day, the following are the only notices which I have been able to collect :
some of his predecessors, egregius Concionator? 1 Job. Salley, mon. Whall. inst. Vic. Whall. Nov. 7, 1411, post res. Tollerton. Ibid. 2 Apud Ilaywood penult. Oct. 1426, Rad. de Cherehow (sic) inst. ad Vic. de Whalley. Ibid. 3 Sept. llth, 1453, Wm. Dynkley inst. p. res. R. de Clid. This fixes the date of R. de Cliderhow's election. Ibid. * Nov. 24, 1488, Joh. Seller mon. inst. Vic. Whalley post mort. Wm. Dinkley. Ibid. s [This Vicar is now inserted in the list for the first time. His name occurs in the Valor as at once Vicar of Whalley and receiver of the rectory of Eccles. The Commission for taking the Valor is dated 25 Jan. 26 Hen, VIII. 1535, and the returns were to be made before the Octaves of Holy Trinity in the same year, 31 May 1535.
de Eccles per annum iiij li. (Valor Eccles. v. 229.) Vicaria de Whalley. In manibus Roberti Parryshe monachi valet in pensione annuatim recepta de abbate de Whalley per compositionem xij li. Inde in pensione annuatim soluta episcopo Cestriensi xl s. Denariis solutis archidiacono Cestrise pro sinodalibus et procurationibus per annum xliij 8. Elemosina annuatim distributa in die obitus Rogeri nuper episcopi Cestriensis xiij s. iiij d. In annuali redditu resoluto gardianis ecclesise de Whalley per annum xx s. Et remanet clare vj li. iij s. iiij d. Inde Decima xij s. iiij d. ob. (Ibid. p. 230.)
' See the previous notice of him in p. 209. BOOK II. CHAP. III.] PARISH CHURCH AND VICARAGE. 213
Dobson, whom Bishop Pilkington characterised as being an "ill Vicar," appears to have been eminently illiterate. 1 Of Osbaldeston, I know not how nearly or how remotely he was allied to the ancient house of that name, nor what became of him. He was not interred at Whalley. I strongly suspect Ormerod to have been a son of the parent house of Ormerod in Cliviger. 2 He constantly resided, and appears to have done his own duty. Every entry in the Register from 1605 to 1631 is in his own hand ; and it is remarkable that a baptism and burial are entered by him on the fifth day before his own interment. Of his successor, Burn, nothing is known. Walker was never properly Vicar, having probably been intruded by the governing powers during the Usurpation. Moore was a judicious and able divine, whose ministry must have been a blessing to the parish. By the kindness of the late Mr. Brand, Secretary to the Society of Antiqua- ries, I am possessed of a very scarce little volume written by him, and dedicated to Sir Raphe Assheton, entitled " The grand Enquiry, who is the righteous man, or the Character of a true Believer in his Approaches towards Heaven, by William Moore, Rector [?] at Whalley, in Lancashire. London, 1657." The orthodoxy, piety, and good sense of this little work lead me to suspect that Whalley had the best minister under the worst govern- Yüklə 4,81 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
|